proverb · Words worth keeping
That often happens in a day which does not happen in a hundred years.
That often happens in a day which does not happen in a hundred years.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
A short period can bring an event absent for many years. A long stretch of stability does not make a sudden change impossible.
What the words are saying
The exaggerated contrast between a day and a hundred years puts surprise against accumulated expectation. Nothing happening for a long time can make an event feel remote, yet it may still occur abruptly. The saying encourages attention to possibilities that a familiar routine hides. Its wording supplies no probability and does not establish that a particular disaster or opportunity is likely. Practical preparation should consider credible consequences and available evidence, rather than treating every imaginable surprise as a reason for alarm.
Everyday example
A small organisation keeps a backup of its records despite years without a computer failure, because a single failure could interrupt its work.
When to use it
Use it to question confidence based only on a long uneventful period.
What it does not mean
The possibility of change does not show that every feared event deserves equal attention. Keep precautions proportionate.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional (French-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 20; French section, paragraph 406; source wording: Il advient souvent en un jour ce qui n’advient en cent ans.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.